Sarah Kaufman, MD, PhD

Dr. Sarah Kaufman is a physician-scientist with a long-term interest in understanding the mechanisms that underlie protein aggregation and neuronal selective vulnerability in neurodegenerative diseases. Tauopathies feature the accumulation of aggregated tau protein in selectively vulnerable neurons that are preferentially lost early in these diseases. Several disease-specific tau aggregate conformations or “strains” have been identified and are believed to underlie the different patterns of selective vulnerability and neuronal loss observed across different tauopathies. Using a combination of CRISPRi-based genome screening techniques and human histopathologic analysis, the overarching goal of her research is to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that underlie tau aggregation and neurotoxicity across distinct tau strains and to elucidation the connection between these strains and the different patterns of selective vulnerability observed across tauopathies.